MARCH 20 20General Motors have promised to release electric
pickups in the next few years.
“The opportunities [in the EV market] are
pretty substantial,” says Ed Kim, a market ana-
lyst for AutoPacific, an automotive research and
consulting firm based in California. If Rivian be-
comes a threat to Tesla dominance, it could en-
ergize the category and set up a true EV rival-
ry. “Some experts have been predicting this for a
while, and I think there are a few key factors hap-
pening now that [are leading to further] pene-
tration of the EV,” says Steven Low, a professor
of computer science and electrical engineering at
Caltech. One is that vehicle range is expanding.
Another is the availability of more charging facil-
ities. And the third element is price.
Rivian claims its R1S and R1T will offer out-
standing performance, including a range of just
over 400 miles, or nearly 75 miles more than
any other existing EV. Both will be able to sprint
from zero to 60 mph in about three seconds.
Above all, Rivian promises genuine off-road ca-
pability. Try driving your Tesla on the beach or
into the woods.
The company also plans to build out a charg-
ing infrastructure, much like Tesla’s Supercharg-
ers. “We are developing them in parallel,” Scar-
inge says. As for the cost, Rivian’s pickup will
have a base price around $69,000, and the SUV
will be $72,500 (and both come with a federal
tax incentive). Scaringe hints that these prices
will come down closer to release but wouldn’t re-
veal a precise figure.
Much will depend on Rivian’s new deep-pock-
eted partners.H
aving built a $3 billion war
chest from Amazon, Ford and
Cox in a short time is certain-
ly an impressive start for Scar-
inge, but if Tesla’s history is an
example, that won’t be enough funding to scale
production to compete with Musk. Then again,
those brands see opportunity in Rivian that Tesla
could never provide.
The partnerships Scaringe forged weren’t just
about the cash. In Ford’s case, the two companies
will also build an electric vehicle together. “We’re
providing the platform,” Scaringe says. “They
will provide the body and the interior.” Although
Scaringe is reticent in talking about the project,
the vehicle will be a luxury SUV with Ford’s Lin-
coln brand.
Rivian hopes the Ford alliance will allow the
company to grow beyond its own consumer elec-
tric vehicle offerings. For its part, Ford is seem-
ingly doing it to keep the company’s options
open, as it often does, to pursue the best option
with which to achieve its electrification goals: 40
electric vehicle models by the end of 2022. Be-
sides the Lincoln with Rivian, Ford is working on
the electric Mustang-inspired Mach-E SUV and
both a hybrid and all-electric version of the Ford
F-150, America’s best-selling vehicle. Ford is also
working with Volkswagen to develop EVs on its
new EV platform.
Amazon, meanwhile, is looking to Rivian to
develop a battery-powered delivery van as part
of its pledge to be net-zero carbon across all its
businesses by 2040 and use 100 percent renew-
able energy to power those businesses by 2030.STOC
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NGETHE FABULOUS STUDEBAKER BOYS
Electric-car companies have been short-circuiting for more than a century. Some 5 0 years
after their company was founded, three of the Studebaker brothers—Henry, Clem and
John—steered their family’s prosperous wagonmaking business toward automobiles. In 1902,
Studebaker released its first battery-operated vehicle and would eventually add several
more models, including a line of commercial trucks. But the cars were expensive—around
$30,000 in today’s dollars, or nearly 15% more than a Ford Model T—and slow, maxing out
around 20 mph, a third of what a gas-powered car could do. The batteries alone weighed
970 pounds. After producing just 1,841 vehicles in
12 years, Studebaker ended its electric line in
1912 to focus on gas vehicles.The irony was not lost on Elon Musk, who in 2018
visited the Studebaker museum in South Bend,
Indiana, and tweeted out John Studebaker’s
dictum about gas cars: “Clumsy, dangerous,
noisy brutes, which stink to high heaven.”
Five Pack
The Studebakers launched their wagon company
in 1852. The last car to bear their name, the
Studebaker Cruiser, rolled off the line in 1966.